Baker Without Borders

Made with ghee, semolina, and besan (split brown chickpea) flour, these melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies, whose name refers to a Persian word for bread and an Afghan word for biscuit, are a popular teatime snack in India and Pakistan. I’ve tried a few recipes, and this simple one by Buttered Veg is my favorite. I used … Continue reading Nankhatai

These are a fun twist on classic chocolate chunk cookies, with a nice crunch from whole peanuts and crushed rice cakes. They are even (sort of) healthy, with olive oil in place of butter. For an even more wholesome cookie, try swapping out all-purpose flour for white whole wheat, which is milder and lighter than … Continue reading Chocolate, Puffed Rice, and Peanut Cookies

Much of the sweetness in these delicious whole-grain muffins, adapted from a whole wheat muffin recipe by Mark Bittman, comes from dried Turkish apricots. I simmered the apricots in water, then coarsely mashed them with a fork. Some of the apricots dissolved into the muffin, lending moisture along with buttermilk and olive oil. Others appeared … Continue reading Whole Wheat Apricot Muffins

These nontraditional biscotti have a spicy kick thanks to ginger in two forms: ground and crystalized. Like the classic Italian cookies, they are baked twice for added crunch, but the addition of butter makes them softer on the inside than typical biscotti. I got inspiration from a triple ginger biscotti recipe in Tish Boyle’s The … Continue reading Double Ginger Biscotti

These little loaves are similar to cinnamon rolls, only with tropical flavors. Made with my favorite challah dough, they are filled with mashed banana, toasted coconut, and vanilla extract, twisted into spirals, and sprinkled with additional coconut for a delightful crunch. Like my cinnamon fig challah loaves, they were a big hit with my one-year-old … Continue reading Banana Coconut Rolls

Shortbread cookies are easy to make, infinitely adaptable, and one of my go-to baking projects. I’ve infused the buttery, crumbly treats with lavender and lemon verbena, filled them with fennel and coconut, and baked them with pistachio and semolina. My latest variation is packed with toasted hazelnuts, flavored with vanilla extract, and absolutely delicious dipped … Continue reading Vanilla Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

While making chocolate ganache to frost some cakes the other day, I decided to replace half the sugar in the original recipe with mashed banana, adding it to the heavy cream as it came to a boil. Banana ganache turned out to be a versatile invention. With one batch, I was able to frost a … Continue reading Chocolate Banana Sandwich Cookies

I had a jar of Turkish grape molasses (one of several varieties of fruit molasses called pekmez) sitting on my kitchen counter, and wanted to bake something chocolatey with it. As I learned from making Martha Stewart’s chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies years ago, molasses and chocolate are a winning combination. Holiday cookie season was already … Continue reading Maple Molasses Brownie Cake

A couple weeks after posting a recipe for pistachio walnut snowballs, and three years after developing a chocolate chestnut snowball, I came up with yet another variation on my favorite holiday cookie. Also known as Russian tea cakes and Mexican wedding cookies, snowballs are typically made from shortbread dough infused with pecans, almonds, or walnuts. After … Continue reading Chocolate Chip Snowballs

Hanukkah donuts (sufganiyot) are typically filled with jelly, but I prefer them with custard. I experimented with making custard using buttermilk, and the result is tangy yet sweet, almost like a rich, creamy vanilla yogurt. The donuts themselves are made with pizza dough, a tip suggested by various food blogs. The idea is to use … Continue reading Buttermilk Custard Donuts